12/02/2010

It was bad enough that the US was bailing out US Banks, it is bizarre to think that we are also bailing out European Banks

"There are a lot of people talking about that. I think the European Commission has talked about that," said the U.S. official, commenting on enlarging the European stability fund. "It is up to the Europeans. We will certainly support using the IMF in these circumstances." . . .

The IMF, whose biggest single shareholder is the United States, has now contributed 250 billion euros or one third of the EFSF financial rescue mechanism. . . .

And why can't countries such as Germany and the UK take care of these problems to the extent that anyone needs to bailout Greece and Ireland?

Foreign banks were among the biggest beneficiaries of the $3,300bn in emergency credit provided by the Federal Reserve during the crisis, according to new data on the extraordinary efforts of the US authorities to save the global financial system.

The revelation of the scale of overseas lenders’ borrowing underlines the global nature of the turmoil and the crucial role of the Fed as the lender of last resort for the world’s banking sector . . .